Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Long Beach Jerky Co. was founded in June 2013 by Alex Naticchioni and Richie Beckman, based out of Long Beach, CA.

It's roots goes back to Alex's grandfather "gramps", who was a beef jerky hobbyist. Gramps would make jerky each year during the Christmas season and stuff stockings with it. As Alex got older, he started helping Gramps make jerky and eventually learned the whole recipe and process. He teamed up with his friend Richie and the two started Long Beach Jerky Co.

Made from brisket meat, this "Spicy Teriyaki" variety is described by the company as, "First it's sweet but then the heat shows up like an ex-girlfriend you haven't seen in years. Unexpected." Steven Tyler of Aerosmith actually gave an endorsement of this jerky.

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a saucy, light salty flavor. Notes of garlic and onion come in, along with touches of heat, and faint bits of sweet.

The chewing brings in a little bit of the teriyaki, while the heat picks up just a bit. The soy sauce becomes more noticeable towards the latter part of chewing, and there's just a light bit of natural meat flavor in there. The black pepper becomes noticeable too.

For being marketed as "Spicy Teriyaki", it kinda holds up to that flavor. It does have a spicy character in that there's a light bit of heat in this, not a lot. It's also a spicy in that there's a strong seasoning blend of garlic, onion, and black pepper. The teriyaki part, however, is hard to identify. This mostly comes off as a lightly sweet, soy sauce than teriyaki. I realize that teriyaki sauce is listed towards the top of the ingredients, but it doesn't really make itself noticeable.

Overall, the flavors that define this jerky is a light sweet, and mild soy sauce flavor. The garlic, onion, and black pepper seasonings are prominent. The teriyaki is faintly recognized, along with touches of liquid smoke. Finally, there's a light natural meat flavor towards the end.

The level of heat in this is light, rating as Mild Medium on my personal heat scale (level 2 out of 5).

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of whole meat, advertised as beef brisket, sliced thick into medium sized pieces.

It's largely a dry jerky with a faintly moist surface feel. They maintain a good deal of flexibility. Biting off pieces can require a little twisting and pulling, though most are actually easy enough that it's not an issue. Chewing is "chewy" overall, but not that bad.

The chewing texture starts out feeling stiff and chewy, though retaining a slight moist character. There is some initial chewing resistance that gives away after several chews. It takes on a meaty feel right away, and by the time it's chewed down to a soft mass, it feels very much like a piece of steak.

I can see some significant pieces of fat on some pieces. I also found a good deal of stringiness in this, much more than the samples of Buffalo Wing and Gramp's Original that this company sent me, but still on par with brisket jerky. Some of this stringiness rendered into unchewable wads.

As for clean eating, it's mostly clean. My fingers don't pick up much residue, though there is a fair amount of seasoning falling off as I bite off pieces.

Snack Value

Long Beach Jerky Co. sells this Spicy Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $6.00 for a 2.5oz package. They actually sell a variety bundle where you get three packages of jerky, one of each their flavors, for $14.00. Add to that flat rate shipping of $5.05, and it works out to $2.54 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.54 per ounce price, it's a decent value. Compared to other brands of jerky sold in stores, it's priced higher, but it seems to offer better flavor and chewing, though chewing is a little on the chewy side. But, there's seems to be more fat and stringiness than what I'd find with other brands of jerky.

For being marketed as a "Spicy Teriyaki" beef jerky, at the same $2.54 per ounce price, it's a fair value. It doesn't really belt out a recognizable teriyaki flavor, but it does have a lightly sweet, soy sauce marinade. And it's not all that spicy, just a mild level of heat and a mild dose of black pepper.

Rating

I'm giving this jerky an average rating.

This Spicy Teriyaki variety from Long Beach Jerky Co. has an overall good flavor, just not much of the teriyaki flavor that I had been looking for. It's actually not all that spicy either, just a light bit of heat and light bit of black pepper.

It has a savory blend of garlic, onion, black pepper, to go along with a mild soy sauce, and light touch of teriyaki, which in itself is rather tasty, and still puts out a good deal of snackability. But compared to other brands of teriyaki jerky, as well as spicy teriyaki, there still wasn't enough in this to put itself up above the pack.

The chewing texture seemed great, chewing like pieces of real steak in a slightly moist meat. However, this review sample had some significant pieces of fat, as well more stringiness than what I found in other samples from this company.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.